After that little flying excursion they continue on their trek towards Sapphire’s home. Ventura chugs down the last few bits of the soda and stuffs the empty bottle in his bag. “Why are you keeping the bottle?” Amethyst asks.
Ventura responds “My friend reuser taught me that just throwing the bottle into the wild really hurts the environment, I normally wouldn’t care but on a big trip like this the last thing I want to happen is to throw a bottle into the trees and then meet some big and powerful nature goddess who would kill me for littering.”
“That was a mouthful” Sapphire states.
“Yeah I could have done that a lot better.” Ventura replies.
Amethyst takes the map from Ventura’s bag and glares at the big red line from AereDale to a big mountain range and the giant city in between, she then asks “we’re going past the crystal empire?”
“Yes we are, our endpoint is going to be a little above the Crystal empire, in the Crystal Mountain.” Ventura responds.
“I know quite a bit about the Crystal Empire actually, did you know it’s nickname is The City Of Love?” Sapphire declares.
“Actually yes, I been planning a visit there for a while, to see my parents again.” Amethyst states.
“I never knew you were a crystal pony.” Says Ventura.
“Really? I thought I’ve told you a bunch of times before” Amethyst answers.
Ventura remembers all the times she’s talked about how she’s a crystal pony. Ventura tilts his head down and mutters ”I’m an idiot.”
“What was that?” Inquires Amethyst.
“Hm? Oh nothing.” Ventura replies.
A small rustle of leaves comes from a bush. Ventura looks over suspiciously. The griffin leaps out and tackles Ventura, clawing and swiping, landing blow after blow. The griffin’s sharp claws pierce Ventura’s hide. Amethyst takes a moment and readies herself, then fires a powerful blast at the opponent. He goes flying smashing into a nearby tree. Ventura gets back up and pulls out the bottle ready to fight. Their adversary gets up and shake their head. The griffin launches forward and grabs Sapphire. Sapphire bites into his chest creating a deep puncture wound. Ventura smashes the bottle over the griffin’s head, shattering the bottle. Amethyst levitates him into the air and throws him back against the tree. He goes out cold. Ventura quickly scampers over and takes his bags and then returns to the group. They run for a good mile or two until everyone almost passes out on the ground. Ventura scans himself, he’s covered in scratches and scars. Amethyst takes one good look at him after the action and says “I brought bandages, didn’t think we would need to use them but here we are.”
She trots up and pulls out a first aid kit and pulls out all the supplies. After she then warns “this might sting a bit.”
She pours a bit of water onto the cuts. After that she cleans it up with a towel from Sapphire’s bag. She pulls out a little thing of cloth and places it on the few big gouges on his body. Carefully, she wraps the coil of bandages on him. About 15 minutes later his more worse cuts are all covered up. “I’m surprised you aren’t a doctor or nurse, your really good at it.” Ventura retorts after her care.
“Being a doctor just isn’t who I want to be, my cutie mark says I’m a magically focused unicorn.” Amethyst declares.
Meanwhile Sapphire has been setting up camp nearby. After she not so nicely asks “Hey can you two love ponies get over here I’m tired, and I get pissed when I’m angry.”
“Be right over!” Shouts Ventura.
Both of them walk on over and sit outside near a bright orange campfire. The fire cracks, sizzles, and pops. Amethyst looks over to Ventura and asks “could we stop at the Crystal Empire? I really want to introduce you to my parents.”
“Of course! Why wouldn’t we?” Ventura responds.
“Well, I don’t know.”
Ventura scoots a bit closer to Amethyst and says “It’s a bit cold out here.”
“Yeah, I guess it is.”
Ventura reaches into his bag and pulls out a light blue scarf and ties it around his neck. He then reaches in and pulls out yet another scarf, this time light purple. He hands it to Amethyst and says “You might need this for the Crystal Empire.”
“Thanks, I- Wow this is soft.”
“It should it costed like 60 bits.”
“Thanks, and I mean this honestly, thank you, I really like it.”
“Your Welcome, Just thought it would be nice to get you something for the first time you moved to AereDale.”
Amethyst wraps the scarf snuggly around her neck then states “I really like you, I mean as a friend but like a best friend.”
“Yeah, I don’t think I’ve had a better friend than you, besides Whole Note.”
Amethyst scoots up close to Ventura. After a few minutes she goes to their tent. Ventura puts out the fire then joins her in the tent. Amethyst is already fast asleep. Ventura whispers to himself “I love you Amethyst, I’m just waiting till the right time.” With everyone getting a full night sleep they will soon be ready for the adventure of tomorrow.